Unusual keep sakes

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Lastpointe

Well-Known Member
When discussion the anniversary of Mt St Helens, Kimmio mentioned visiting someone who had volcano ashes. That seemed like both an odd but also a neat thing to keep. So what have you kept that might be considered both odd and cool
 
We had one unusual item for years ,though I don’t know where it is now

years ago, they diverted the water on the USA side of Niagara Falls. I seem to remember that they were doing emergency repairs of the cliff wall It was a huge thing. A dam was built up stream and all the water was diverted to go over The Horseshoe Falls

we lived in London so a trip to the Falls was maybe every couple of years. But we made sure to go that year to see the massive amount of water. As a kid I am not sure I saw a difference. I never asked my parents if they did. we would go, climb Brocks tower, See the falls, have a picnic up river, walk up the crazy Main Street....... but that year we crossed over to the USA side. Those days you just had to tell them where you were born, no papers to check, no passports. Funny how that was

anyway, we walked over to see the dry river bed and there was this gap in the fence. My older brother, who was about 14 I guess, squeezed through, climbed down to the river bed, grabbed a couple of rocks and squeezed back out with no one seeing him. Again, funny times

those rocks felt like glass they were so silky smooth. And they were one of those neat but odd things that stayed with us. I must ask him if he still has them
 
When discussion the anniversary of Mt St Helens, Kimmio mentioned visiting someone who had volcano ashes. That seemed like both an odd but also a neat thing to keep. So what have you kept that might be considered both odd and cool
Actually, kids brought volcano ashes to school. :)

A 4 leaf clover - not laminated exactly but I think ironed between pieces of wax paper... my grandpa picked it - he was really good at finding them, but not necessarily someone with a lot of good luck - and it was originally pressed into a book of his, I think. My mom has it for me. A table-top sized windmill made of scrap and plywood (with shingles, painted, is well done) that winds up by the blades, sounds like a music box, and lights up. It’s really kitschy but I think it’s cool. My grandpa, my mom’s dad - was a lighting electrician - blue-collar jack of all trades really - and he tinkered with building all kinds of things. Also, a miniature log cabin that’s windows light up - he made. My mom has that but it’s mine. A cassette tape of my late uncle playing piano. It’s about 5 minutes long and that’s the only thing on it. My mom has a copy, too, maybe other relatives. I think he taped himself playing. I have a few other keepsakes that are nice but aren’t that unusual. Just things I was given, that I like. In storage...I know I have a lucky rock, a smooth little stone a coworker gave me after I experienced a panic attack for the first time. He got them sometimes too...and the next day after it happened (at work) he gave me the rock he kept in his pocket. Which, was really really thoughtful looking back. The memory is worth more than the rock, in storage or not. He was in a solid relationship at that time...and even after working there I helped he and his partner with an art project (they were professional artists with low paying day jobs)...but they split up, and then he reached out - seemed depressed/ dumped and seemed like he was asking me out...well he was but it was a different vibe from before...and then I was not comfortable with that. He was quite a bit older than me. I was not interested in dating him. Lost contact. Anyway...short story long...the rock was a really kind gesture. And I did keep it...I just don’t have it here.
 
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A paint by numbers painting that my dad did that was in my grandparent’s basement on their rec-room wall. And a real oil painting my mom painted (she’s actually quite good, she took several art classes - but hasn’t painted in many years), of a mountain landscape/ woods/ scenery, that was in my grandparents’ living room even after my parents divorced. Right up until grandma moved into her seniors home before she died. My dad picked them up from her house when he was there, and dropped them off to me in Vancouver on the way back...he, of course, said, “Obviously, my painting’s better.” LOL. And a side table with a drawer in it, that was also in my grandma’s house for 50 years - that my dad made in high school shop class. He didn’t want it. It’s very Danish/ mid-Century Modern. I like it.

A stuffed toy Dalmatian that looked like my childhood dog. I gave it to my mom - it was my favourite stuffed toy and we had just given the dog away - when I was 8 or 9 and forgot it was her birthday. She gave it back years later.

That’s enough. I’m sure more will come to mind but that’s already plenty.
 
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On the radio last night they had the story of a man who had to have an MRI. They magnet dislodged a nail out of his nose/ sinuses he didn’t know he had - it had been there for about 30 years.
 
I have my old childhood "treasure box" on a shelf. Some souvenir coins and stuff like that (not really unusual) but it also has a full set of D&D dice (besides the usual cube, D&D had dice in every one of the Platonic solids plus a couple that folks made up). Haven't played in decades, but they are still there "just in case".
 
Lol. That would be an interesting keep sake

I had a girl friend in elementary school who had these weird teeth she kept. For some reason she had three sets of teeth and they removed these third ones surgically. They were twisted like screws. But we all thought they were totally cool

i. Like all your little memory items Kimmio
 
On the radio last night they had the story of a man who had to have an MRI. They magnet dislodged a nail out of his nose/ sinuses he didn’t know he had - it had been there for about 30 years.
Ouch. I'm a bit surprised they don't do a quick magnet check on patients. Even with clothes they just seem to trust us.
 
Ouch. I'm a bit surprised they don't do a quick magnet check on patients. Even with clothes they just seem to trust us.
They did notice and then sent him to x-ray. But he must have been a bit influenced by the magnet already, because at x- ray, he coughed/ spit it out. At least, he explained it kind of like this.
 
They did notice and then sent him to x-ray. But he must have been a bit influenced by the magnet already, because at x- ray, he coughed/ spit it out. At least, he explained it kind of like this.
Here anyway they do a quick questionnaire. I realize that a handheld magnet won't catch everything, especially surgically implanted stuff, but it would catch extras the questionnaire doesn't, especially piercings/clothing type of things. And I'm saying this should be done OUTSIDE of the 5G zone. I heard a story where someone brought their gun with them - not sure if just a made up things, but with how lax they can be it wouldn't surprise me.
 
By brother managed to stuff a deflated balloon all the way up his nose to his sinuses (I don't think all the way) when he was 3. We don't know how. i was 15 then. I remember the titilating story being they used cocaine to freeze his nose at the hospital. I wonder if they kept it for him. I doubt it, somehow! Lol.
 
I kept a scrapbook from my relationship with my first serious boyfriend. I put in pictures, a lobster tail, yep taped it inside LOL (first one I had), first condom package, a lock of his hair.....boy was I weird. It is now long gone.
 
I kept a scrapbook from my relationship with my first serious boyfriend. I put in pictures, a lobster tail, yep taped it inside LOL (first one I had), first condom package, a lock of his hair.....boy was I weird. It is now long gone.
That one made me laugh. I must say, coming from you it sounds funny. There's a gender bias in there though - if a male had done it - creepy.

I'm sure I've held onto some weird stuff, but nothing is standing out.
I held onto class notes for a ridiculously long time - including some high school subjects. "In case I tutor" (and I still have some of my university ones, unless Chemguy snuck a bunch without my knowledge ... which is very possible). Not weird, just fairly useless as things become dated.
 
That one made me laugh. I must say, coming from you it sounds funny. There's a gender bias in there though - if a male had done it - creepy.

I'm sure I've held onto some weird stuff, but nothing is standing out.
I held onto class notes for a ridiculously long time - including some high school subjects. "In case I tutor" (and I still have some of my university ones, unless Chemguy snuck a bunch without my knowledge ... which is very possible). Not weird, just fairly useless as things become dated.
Hey, I'm pretty cool....:ROFLMAO:
 
This morning I was ironing my old 'work shirt' - it's plaid, viyella fabric - I'm sure it will never wear out. I wear it for house painting, dirty work, gardening etc. I was thinking about when I purchased it probably the late 1960s. I was in high school - grade 10 or 11 & I asked a guy to the Sadie Hawkins Dance at school. It was a costume event - we wore 'western gear' - and I had to go find a plaid shirt. It was HARD to find one then, and I paid a lot for it at a fairly upscale men's store in Kitchener. So ... I still have the shirt ... still comfy and holds lots of good memories too. So I guess it qualifies as a 'keepsake'.
 
My brother did computer science at university , graduated early 70’s He kept huge boxes of computer cards in my parents basement. All their coding and stuff was done on this rectangular cards that had holes punched. And the somehow were fed into the computer. Boxes and boxes of them

i had our kids toss old school work a couple of years ago

my parents kept our report cards, I kept their too. It was funny to read my old reports. It’s of comments like. “Patsy would do better in class if she did not talk as much”.......
 
And the somehow were fed into the computer

They were put into a hopper and fed one-by-one through a chute, generally. The technology was still around until at least 1980 because my first program (in Grade 9 math) was done on cards. They went to the board's office to be run on their old mainframe. By the time I hit grade 13 the school had its first microcomputer lab and was teaching a full introduction to programming course (I didn't take it but a friend did).
 
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